Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Gave Thousands to CPCs

Virginia Attorney General and current candidate for Governor Ken Cuccinelli recently filed a summary of his tax returns, revealing that he has given over $4,000 to crisis pregnancy centers (CPC) in the past few years. Crisis pregnancy centers have been found to purposefully use inaccurate medical information, false statements, and emotional manipulation to dissuade women from receiving abortion care.

Cuccinelli gave $1,340 to a Manassas-area CPC called AAA Women for Choice, and he helped them raise an additional $4,000 by letting them raffle off a Gadsden flag that he had autographed. An investigation by NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia found that employees at AAA Women for Choice incorrectly informed visitors that abortion could cause infertility and breast cancer, gave misinformation about surgical abortion, and told one woman that the decision to have an abortion would “haunt” her for the rest of her life. The AAA Women for Choice website, however, does not reflect its anti-choice practices. The website misleads online visitors by listing abortion as an option for pregnant women.

Cuccinelli also gave $2,678 to Divine Mercy Care, the fundraising component of the pro-life medical center Tepeyac Family Center in Fairfax, and $20 to EMC Frontline Pregnancy Centers, an organization that runs CPCs in New York City and has been found to tell patients there is a link between abortion and breast cancer.

Cuccinelli’s support for crisis pregnancy centers goes beyond individual charitable giving and into the realm of politics. As a state senator, he amended a bill to make the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles offer “Choose Life” license plates to drivers. Each time a license plate is purchased, $15 is donated to a CPC. Since the plates have become available, they have raised $223,000 for state CPCs. As the state’s attorney general, Cuccinelli has also tried to prevent a women’s health clinic’s appeal of unnecessary and onerous TRAP regulations from proceeding in court. The regulations have already forced two clinics to close.